⏱ 8 min read
**Let your AI agent make the first move.** Instead of waiting for contacts to reach out, the Outbound Caller lets your agent proactively follow up — on your schedule, at any scale.
—
🤖 What is the Outbound Caller?
The Outbound Caller lets your AI call agent proactively reach out to your contacts instead of waiting for them to call you.
Use it to:
– 🔁 Follow up with leads automatically
– 📅 Schedule callbacks at specific dates and times
– ⚡ Start outbound calls immediately for one contact or an entire group
– 📋 Track every outbound call as a lead in your Contacts and Leads page
—
## ✅ Before You Start
Make sure you have the following ready:
| Requirement | Where to set it up |
|—|—|
| 🤖 At least one active outbound call agent | Call Funnels → create a funnel with type **Outbound** |
| 📱 Contacts with valid phone numbers | Contacts and Leads → All Leads |
| 👥 A saved group (if calling groups) | Contacts and Leads → Groups tab |
💡 If you need help creating or organizing groups first, see **Managing Contact Groups** in the docs folder.
⚠️ If you do not have an outbound call agent yet, go to **Call Funnels**, create a new call funnel, and set the agent type to **Outbound** before continuing.
—
## 🔍 Where to Find It
Click **Outbound Caller** in the left sidebar.
The page has two main sections:
| Section | Purpose |
|—|—|
| 📋 Select a contact or group | Configure who to call and which agent to use |
| 🗓 Scheduled Contacts | The list of pending and completed outbound call entries |
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## Step 1: 🎛 Choose Contact or Group Mode
At the top of the page you will see two mode options:
| Mode | What it does |
|—|—|
| 👤 Contact | Call a single contact |
| 👥 Group | Call all contacts in a saved group at once |
Select the mode that matches your use case.
—
## Step 2: 🎯 Select Who to Call
### 👤 If you chose Contact mode
A searchable dropdown appears. Type a name or phone number to find the contact you want to call.
ℹ️ Only contacts with a saved phone number will appear in the list.
### 👥 If you chose Group mode
A dropdown loads your saved contact groups. Each entry shows:
– Group name
– Number of contacts in the group
⚠️ Contacts inside the group that do not have a phone number will be **skipped automatically**. You will see the skipped count in the progress summary.
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## Step 3: 🤖 Select an Outbound Call Agent
After selecting a contact or group, choose which outbound call agent should handle the calls.
Each agent shows:
– Agent name
– Agent avatar
> ℹ️ Only **active outbound agents** appear in this list. If the list is empty, you need to create an outbound call agent in Call Funnels first.
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## Step 4: ➕ Add to the Scheduled List
Click **Add to List**.
The entry will appear in the **Scheduled Contacts** table below with the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|—|—|
| 📋 Type | Contact or Group |
| 👤 Contact or Group | Name (and member count for groups) |
| 🤖 Agent | The assigned outbound agent |
| 🔖 Status | Current state of the entry |
| 🔢 #Calls | How many calls have been processed |
> 🛡 **Duplicate protection:** If you try to add the same contact with the same agent more than once, the system will prevent a duplicate pending entry from being created.
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## Step 5: 📅 Schedule or Start the Call
Each entry in the Scheduled Contacts table has two action buttons:
| Button | What it does |
|—|—|
| 📅 Schedule | Choose a future date and time for the call |
| ⚡ Call Now | Start the outbound call immediately |
—
### 📅 Option A: Schedule a Callback
1. Click **Schedule** on the entry row.
2. The scheduling modal opens.
3. Select the date and time you want the call to go out.
4. Click **Schedule Call**.
> ⚠️ The scheduled time must be in the future.
Once scheduled, the entry status updates to **Pending** and the scheduled time is saved to the row.
**Example:**
“`
You add a warm lead to the list on Monday.
You schedule a callback for Wednesday at 10:00 AM.
The outbound agent calls that contact at the scheduled time.
“`
### ⚡ Option B: Call Now
1. Click **Call Now** on the entry row.
2. A confirmation modal opens showing the contact or group details.
3. Click **Start Calls**.
The outbound agent begins calling immediately.
—
## Step 6: 📊 Monitor Progress (Groups)
When you schedule or start calls for a **group**, a live progress modal appears and stays open while the system processes each contact one by one.
### What the progress modal shows
| Indicator | Description |
|—|—|
| ▓▓▓░░ Progress bar | Visual completion percentage |
| 🔢 Total | How many contacts are in the group |
| ✅ Success | Successfully scheduled or called |
| ❌ Failed | Could not be processed |
| ⏭ Skipped | No phone number available |
| 👤 Current | The contact being processed right now |
| 📋 Summary | Final result breakdown when done |
### ⚠️ During processing
– 🔒 Do not close the modal until processing finishes
– 🔒 The modal cannot be manually closed while the group is being processed
– ⚠️ If you try to navigate away or refresh the page, a browser warning will appear
### ✅ After processing
“`
✅ 18 callbacks scheduled successfully
❌ 2 failed
⏭ 1 skipped (no phone number)
“`
## 🔎 Reviewing Your Outbound Calls
After calls are placed, open the **Contacts and Leads** page to review results.
– Each outbound call creates or updates a lead with the source set to **Outbound Call**
– On the contacts table, outbound leads are identified by the 📤 outgoing phone icon in the source column
– Click any contact to open their detail modal — inside the **Phone Call Summary** section you will see an orange **Outbound Call** pill confirming the call type
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## 💡 Tips and Best Practices
**📱 Keep phone numbers clean**
Contacts without a valid phone number are skipped automatically. Review your contacts list and fill in missing numbers before running group calls.
**👥 Use groups for bulk outreach**
Instead of adding contacts one by one, organize them into a group first, then use Group mode to call the entire list with a single action.
**🕐 Schedule during business hours**
Callbacks are more effective when they go out during your recipients’ local business hours. Use the Schedule option to control exactly when the agent calls.
**🧪 Monitor the first batch closely**
For a new agent or a new contact list, stay on the progress modal for the first group run to confirm calls are completing successfully before scheduling larger batches.
**🟢 Check your outbound agent is active**
Only agents with an active status appear in the agent selector. If your agent is not showing up, go to Call Funnels and confirm it is active and set to the outbound type.
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❓ Common Questions
**Why does the agent list appear empty?**
🟡 There are no active outbound call agents on your account. Go to Call Funnels, create a new funnel, and set the type to Outbound.
**Why was a contact skipped?**
🟡 The contact does not have a phone number saved. Open the contact record, add a phone number, and try again.
**Can I cancel a scheduled callback?**
🟡 Remove the entry from the Scheduled Contacts list before the scheduled time. Once a call has been triggered, it cannot be cancelled through the interface.
**What happens if a call fails?**
🟢 Failed contacts are counted in the progress summary. The system continues processing the remaining contacts in the group. You can review the failed totals at the end of the progress modal.
**Where do outbound calls show in the contacts page?**
🟢 After a call is made, the contact appears in the Contacts and Leads table with the 📤 **Outbound Call** source icon. Open the contact modal to see the full phone call summary.
